%442.  The Battle of Gettysburg.%—­After Burnside was defeated at Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, he was removed, and General Hooker put in command of the Army of the Potomac.  Hooker—­“Fighting Joe,” as he was called—­led it against Lee, and (May 1-4, 1863) was beaten at Chancellorsville and fell back.  In June Lee again took the offensive, rushed down the Shenandoah valley to the Potomac, crossed Maryland, and entered Pennsylvania, with the Army of the Potomac in pursuit.  On reaching Maryland, Hooker was removed and General Meade put in command.  The opposing forces met on the hills at Gettysburg, Penn., and there, July 1-3, Lee attacked Meade.  The contest was a dreadful one; no field was ever more stubbornly fought over.  About one fourth of the men engaged were killed or wounded.  But the splendid courage of the Union army prevailed:  Lee was beaten and retired to Virginia, where he remained unmolested till the spring of 1864.  Gettysburg is regarded as the greatest battle of the war, and the Union regiments engaged have taken a just pride in marking the positions they held during the three awful days of slaughter, till the field is dotted all over with beautiful monuments.  On the hill back of the village is a great national cemetery, at the dedication of which Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg address.

[Illustration:  Part of the battlefield of Gettysburg]

%443.  Vicksburg%.—­The day after the victory at Gettysburg, the joy of the North was yet more increased by the news that Vicksburg had surrendered (July 4) to Grant.  After the defeat, of the Confederate forces at Iuka and Corinth in 1862, the Confederate line passed across northern Mississippi, touched the river from Vicksburg to Port Hudson, and then swept off to the Gulf.  As the capture of these river towns would complete the opening of the Mississippi, Grant set out to take Vicksburg.  Failing in a direct advance through Mississippi, Grant sent a strong force down the river from Memphis, and later took command in person.  Vicksburg stands on the top of a bluff which rises steep and straight 200 feet above the river, and had been so fortified that to capture it seemed impossible.  But Grant was determined to open the river.  On the west bank, he cut a canal through a bend, hoping to divert the river and get water passage by the town.  This failed, and he decided to cross below the town and attack from the land.  To aid him in this attempt, Porter ran his gunboats past the town one night in April and carried the army over the river.  Landing on the east bank, Grant won a victory at Port Gibson, and occupied Grand Gulf.  Hearing that Johnston was coming to help Pemberton, Grant pushed in between them, beat Johnston at Jackson, and turning westward, drove Pemberton into Vicksburg, and began a regular siege.  For seven weeks he poured in shot and shell day and night.  To live in houses became impossible, and the women and children took refuge in caves.  Food gave out, and after every kind of misery had been endured till it could be borne no longer, Vicksburg was surrendered on July 4.